Chimpazilla Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 (edited) Contact Info: On Being Human Greg Johnson www.onbeinghumanhumanmusic.com 50551 Submission Info Final Fantasy IV “From Baron to the Moon” Featuring: Prologue Kingdom of Baron Mystic Mysidia Mt. Ordeals Cry in Sorrow The Lunarians Golbez, Clad in Darkness Fight II The Final Battle Hey Cid! Victory Fanfare Best! OBH Edited March 18, 2015 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted February 19, 2015 Author Share Posted February 19, 2015 (edited) This is actually a very cool medley, it sounds quite cohesive, considering the disparate nature of all of these themes. I'm impressed. Each source is played conservatively enough to be easily identifiable, yet is very nicely interpreted here. I don't have any particular mixing crits, it is sounding good to me. I like it! edit 3/18/15: *listening again* I still think this sounds stylistically cohesive, and each theme is very well performed. I still like this a lot! But the guys are right, in the end result, it is in fact one theme after the other without any integration between them. Too many abrupt transitions within the arrangement. Darn it, gotta vote no. NO Edited March 18, 2015 by Chimpazilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 (edited) It is my humble opinion that you cannot have enough FFIV mixes. I love this OST. So, on to the mix... Not gonna lie, when I saw the number of sources (before listening) I was pretty taken aback on how you could make this work. Listening through, I don't feel like I'm as on board as Kristina on how well integrated all of these various sources are. I personally have nothing against medleys, but according to OCR standards, if you're going to use various sources in a mix, then you need to make sure they both integrate well together and that they are sufficiently developed. There are some great ideas in how you interpret the various themes, but in several instances it feels like each theme is just pasted one after the other, rather than being cohesive. Examples of this are :49 (borderline ok, actually), 1:36 (pretty abrupt), 2:33 (abrupt), 3:39 (very abrupt), 4:13 (very abrupt again), etc. Some themes, like Mysidia & Mt. Koltz, feel underdeveloped as it's basically a one-run through cover without much development. The atmospheric treatment of The Lunarians was a big highlight for me, but again very short and not developed very far. Really like the performances here. Intro prologue was very very cool to hear, especially with the guitar countermelodies in the background. Drum writing in particular was very nicely handled. I think I'm gonna need to take notes on them . Production-wise, things felt a bit crowded in the low end on many of the louder sections. The kick, bass, and rhythm guitars are competing a lot for that 200-500 hz range and because of this it feels very saturated in that range, which even perhaps a bit of pumping when the kick hits at times. In general, balance was good, however, sometimes the leads felt relegated too much to the background in places (Baron is a good example of where this happens, and elsewhere to a lesser extent). They're side-panned pretty heavily, which likely is contributing a bit. The hats sounded like they're sizzling a bit in the high eq range as well. If the arrangement was more cohesive and the themes more developed, I'd be good on passing this one as I view the production issues are relatively minor. However, as much as I personally love this track, I don't feel like it fits in the OCR arrangement guidelines. NO resubmit, please Edited March 17, 2015 by Nutritious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Not gonna lie, when I saw the number of sources (before listening) I was pretty taken aback on how you could make this work. Listening through, I don't feel like I'm as on board as Kristina on how well integrated all of these various sources are. I personally have nothing against medleys, but according to OCR standards, if you're going to use various sources in a mix, then you need to make sure they both integrate well together and that they are sufficiently developed.There are some great ideas in how you interpret the various themes, but in several instances it feels like each theme is just pasted one after the other, rather than being cohesive. Examples of this are :49 (borderline ok, actually), 1:36 (pretty abrupt), 2:33 (abrupt), 3:39 (very abrupt), 4:13 (very abrupt again), etc. Some themes, like Mysidia & Mt. Koltz, feel underdeveloped as it's basically a one-run through cover without much development. The atmospheric treatment of The Lunarians was a big highlight for me, but again very short and not developed very far. Really like the performances here. Intro prologue was very very cool to hear, especially with the guitar countermelodies in the background. Drum writing in particular was very nicely handled. I think I'm gonna need to take notes on them . Production-wise, things felt a bit crowded in the low end on many of the louder sections. The kick, bass, and rhythm guitars are competing a lot for that 200-500 hz range and because of this it feels very saturated in that range, which even perhaps a bit of pumping when the kick hits at times. In general, balance was good, however, sometimes the leads felt relegated too much to the background in places (Baron is a good example of where this happens, and elsewhere to a lesser extent). They're side-panned pretty heavily, which likely is contributing a bit. The hats sounded like they're sizzling a bit in the high eq range as well. If the arrangement was more cohesive and the themes more developed, I'd be good on passing this one as I view the production issues are relatively minor. However, as much as I personally love this track, I don't feel like it fits in the OCR arrangement guidelines. Took the words out of my mouth, and I agreed with literally every point (including how greaaaaaat the "Lunarians" section was), so I'm quoting the entire post. Re: the arrangement, I'm a little less critical than Nutritious on the medley structure, BUT I still agree with him that it's enough of a run-through of themes with quick transitions that it falls outside of the standards. The presentation's personalized very well and the musicianship is apparent, but we do explicitly look for medleys that are more cohesive and feel like a single concept rather than a string of quick shots of songs. 2. Submissions incorporating more than one source are allowed, but are not given special consideration or leniency with regard to the submission standards. Your submission must have a strong focus and direction. Medleys must sound like a single song, not multiple songs pasted together. That's not to say you can never do an arrangement with ANY short usage of themes and quick transitions, but it can't mostly be that structure -- there's got to be a balance there, and the transitions have to be more substantial. LuIzA's Final Fantasy medley "Fire Cross" remains a great example of that. The production criticisms in particular are dead on re: the crowding and sizzle. Nothing that was a dealbreaker for the production, but definitely things that significantly undermined the quality of the listen. This doesn't make it on more of a technicality as far as what we look for in arrangements with multiple themes. Hopefully, we can get you posted on the site with something else awesome, Greg, as you're an excellent musician. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Aaaaah I always hate to reject subs like this. What you've got here is a series of nicely-performed, nicely-produced, nicely-written arrangements. Many of them could stand alone as remixes, with a little more development. But the song definitely doesn't hold together as a cohesive piece - there's too many abrupt changes and shifts. I even thought the production was pretty darn good, enough to get over our bar. In short, this sounds great, but it falls outside of what we're looking for. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts